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BBC Proms on the World Service

Music

Highlights from the BBC Proms, the UK's greatest classical music festival

Highlights from the BBC Proms, the UK's greatest classical music festival.

Memorable performances from the Proms season of classical concerts, recorded in the unique atmosphere of the Royal Albert Hall in London.

BBC Proms on the World Service: BBC Proms 2017: A Feast of English Music

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A feast of English music

19/08/2017 GMT

A Feast of English Music

BBC Proms 2017

BBC World Service - BBC Proms on the World Service, BBC Proms 2017, A Feast of English Music

Elgar's popular 'Enigma' Variations and Purcell's choral 'Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes'

A programme of English music: Purcell's 'Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei', arranged by Elgar, and his own 'Enigma' Variations.

PURCELL (arr. ELGAR):  Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei  
ELGAR: 'Enigma' Variations  
 
Toby Spence tenor
Henry Waddington bass-baritone

BBC National Chorus of Wales
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Ryan Wigglesworth conductor
 
A programme of English music, starting with Purcell's dramatic choral motet Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei. The composer used such advanced harmonies that when Edward Elgar was orchestrating the work two centuries later, he is said to have been concerned that the particular Purcell score which he was using might contain misprints! In his own 'Enigma' Variations, Elgar created one of the most enduring, as well as most delightful, musical mysteries. It's a set of orchestral variations on a theme, each variation a disguised sonic portrait of one of Elgar's friends. But what of the theme itself, the enigma at the heart of the work?
 
Andrew McGregor is joined by one of UK's leading music writers and broadcasters Stephen Johnson.

(Photo: conductor Ryan Wigglesworth by BBC/Chris Christodoulou)

BBC Proms on the World Service: BBC Proms 2017

BBC World Service

Highlights from the 2017 season of BBC Proms, the UK's greatest classical music festival.

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BBC Proms 2017

A Feast of English Music

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